Xaviar Babudar, aka ChiefsAholic, gets 17 years for robberies - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chiefs superfan Xaviar Babudar was sentenced to 17½ years in prison without parole and three years of supervised release Thursday for committing a string of armed bank robberies across the United States.

Babudar, widely known as ChiefsAholic, entered a plea deal in February in which he admitted to stealing more than $800,000 in 11 robberies across seven states and laundering the proceeds through casinos. He pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery, one count of money laundering and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines.

Dressed head to toe in a gray wolf suit, Babudar, 30, became a staple at Chiefs games for years and was adored by fans at Arrowhead Stadium and on social media, where he crafted a persona of a hardworking, generous bachelor.

Babudar's attorney, Matthew Merryman, said Babudar's robberies were driven by gambling addiction. Patrick Daly, senior litigation counsel at the U.S. Attorney's Office, disagreed.

"It's not an addiction to gambling. It's not an addiction to the Chiefs," he said. "It's an addiction to fame."

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Prosecutors cited a statement from one robbery victim, who wrote, "[M]y team didn't deserve to be held at gunpoint twice so a man in a wolf suit could travel the country watching football and placing extravagant bets."

According to the court documents, Babudar told a Nashville credit union employee that he would "blow your brains out" and that if they gave him a dye pack he would "come back and put a bullet in your head."